WASHINGTON - Dozens of teenagers and children have been killed by explosions at oil and gas storage tanks over the past three decades, according to federal investigators who on Thursday urged companies to better secure the sites.

In a report on the incidents, the Chemical Safety Board highlighted three recent lethal explosions, including one on April 26, 2010, that killed a 24-year-old woman and injured a 25-year-old man after they lit a cigarette while on top of an oil tank in the East Texas city of New London.

But the independent federal agency said the problem goes back for decades and demands immediate solutions.

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The CSB cited 23 similar accidents - most involving partying teenagers or curious kids - at oil and gas storage sites from 1983 to 2010.

All of the incidents involved victims 25 years old or less, and 27 percent of them were in Texas, though none was in Houston. Forty-four people died and 25 were injured in the incidents studied.

The accidents occurred at unprotected storage tanks holding unrefined, recently extracted oil and gas, rather than at facilities farther down the oil stream, such as refineries.

Many such tanks are in remote areas - unfenced, unsupervised and with no warning signs - and are "a tempting venue for young people looking for a place to gather and socialize," the safety board found.

It can be a devastating and lethal combination when young people hanging out at the sites light up cigarettes.

After studying the 2010 New London explosion along with two others in Carnes, Miss., and Weleetka, Okla., the CSB concluded that all three could have been prevented with better warning signs, secured hatches on the tanks or the use of safer tank designs at the facilities.

"These accidents were entirely preventable," said Rafael Moure-Eraso, chairman of the safety board.

Swift steps called for

Although Houston and some other large cities put constraints on the location of the facilities within city limits, that is not the case nationwide, where more than 800,000 oil- and natural gas-producing facilities dot the landscape.

The CSB on Thursday urged oil and gas companies to take swift steps to prevent more accidents, including adopting inherently safer tank design features that are already used in the refining sector. For instance, the safety board suggested, vents fitted with pressure-vacuum devices, flame arrestors, vapor recovery systems and floating roofs would make the tanks and the areas around them safer.

"There are more modern storage tank designs that make it much more difficult to accidentally ignite the flammable vapor inside," Moure-Eraso said. "When the vapor ignites, tanks can explode - killing or injuring any people in the vicinity."

Moure-Eraso said safer storage tanks "are cost-effective and they work."

The CSB also pointed to other changes that could boost safety, including hatch locks to prevent access to flammable hydrocarbons inside storage tanks, fencing around the tanks and warning signs.

Not enough protection

Federal, state and local laws in place now don't go far enough to protect people, said Vidisha Parasram, who led a CSB task force that investigated the issue.

"These sites are dangerous and the people who live and work in these communities should be properly protected," Parasram said.

Although the American Petroleum Institute recommends security measures for storage tanks holding refined petroleum products, the industry group does not have similar standards for storage tanks at upstream exploration and production sites.

Those tanks also are exempt from security requirements in the Clean Water Act and risk-management mandates in the Clean Air Act.

The safety board urged the Petroleum Institute to encourage safer tank designs, and Texas regulators to mandate them. The agency also called on the Texas Railroad Commission to beef up oil and gas regulations by insisting on locked fences, hatch locks and barriers preventing unauthorized access to external ladders and stairways at the sites.

Report under review

The Railroad Commission said it could not comment on the recommendations until it has finished reviewing the report.

API spokesman Reid Porter said the group also is studying the report. "We look forward to reviewing this report and its recommendations, and continuing to improve safe operations," he said.

In the April 26, 2010, New London incident, an exploding tank flew 48 feet after one of the two victims lit a cigarette while climbing a stairway on the site, where an isolated road ended in a forest clearing.

The site, which was in operation for at least 80 years, had three interconnected 1,000-barrel capacity tanks at the time of the accident. The tank that exploded had not stored hydrocarbons for at least a year and half before the incident. A graffiti-covered sign posted at the site warned against smoking, matches or open flames.